Today I complete my recap of the Senators' season with a look at the club's top 6 forwards.
And I would put top 6 loosely, because due to injury and lack of depth, on many nights you didn't see a real top 6 out there.
Lets start off with the good, and in that class, you will find just Mark Stone and Ryan Dzingel. Stone came into his own, and showed himself to be an elite player in the league, with and without the puck. He is the epitome of making those around him better, and he brings an emotion to his game that makes him a joy to watch. Unfortunately he missed the last month of the season and 24 games in total, but he still managed his fourth straight 20 goal season and tied Erik Karlsson for the team lead in points with 62, in 58 games.
For the number of chances he had, Dzingel probably should have been a 40 goal scorer, but a career high and team-leading 23 was still a revelation as he showed the ability to be a legitimate second line scoring winger.
The next tier of forwards includes Mike Hoffman and Matt Duchene. Duchene came in with much fanfare, and it took him a while to get going. While he did end up tied with Dzingel for the team lead in goals with 23 (27 total if you include the 4 he had in Colorado before the trade). When the deal was made, some people questioned his ability to play when the chips are down, so I will reserve judgement on him until he is put into that situation, but he certainly had a good second half, although the Senators' fate was sealed at that point.
Hoffman, once again seems to be the guy that faces the music more often than anyone else in the group when things aren't going well. He was often shuttled down to the third line, and even when he found some incredible chemistry with Duchene, that didn't last long before Guy Boucher split them up. For a guy with his skill set and release, the Senators expect more than the 22 goals he put up, and you could make a point that the blame for him falling short of what should be 30 goals can be spread between his own play and the way the coaching staff used him.
So that makes 4...not 6...
Now comes Bobby Ryan, who had yet another disappointing season, plagued by more hand injuries that cost him 20 games, and he barely cracked double digits in goals. For a player making in excess of $7M per season, that simply isn't good enough, no matter how likable a player is and how hard he may be trying. I think there was some optimism from the fan base and the organization based on his 2017 playoff performance, but that didn't carry over to this season. The Senators have a big decision to make with him, and whether they can find a taker for the four years he has left on his contract going forward.
After these 5, the Senators had a hard time trying to fill the top 6, which was one reason why their offensive output only increased by 13 goals over the previous season despite Boucher shifting his priorities to get an increased focus on offence.
There was no backup plan in place for the possibility that Clarke MacArthur wasn't going to return, and the young legs still have a lot to show that they belong in a top 6, scoring role. There is hope that Colin White, Alex Formenton, Drake Batherson, or Aaron Luchuk will eventually grow into that role, but as of right now, having to plug a Zack Smith orAlex Burrows, Marian Gaborik or Jean-Gabriel Pageau into that 6th spot shows their lack of depth and inability to withstand a key injury.
Nowhere is that lack of depth more apparent than down the middle. The Senators have gone from a 1-2 of Jason Spezza and Kyle Turris to Turris and Mika Zibanejad to Turris and Derick Brassard to Matt Duchene and Derick Brassard to Matt Duchene and *Who*? I guess Pageau is the second line centre at this point in time, but I think he is more suited to the third line role he plays for the most part.
Tyring to fill 2 power play units became a chore for the coaching staff, and they will certainly need to upgrade in this area if they want to become competitive. It creates a trickle-down effect because then they have all kinds of players playing out of their role and out of their element.
With contracts (and likely big raises) due to Stone, Duchene and Dzingel in the next little while, finding the resources to keep them while also upgrading in other areas will prove to be a huge challenge for Pierre Dorion and his skeleton staff.
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